Montgomery County celebrates 20 years of 9-1-1

Montgomery County Commissioners Josh Shapiro, left, and Bruce Castor cut a cake during a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the county’s 9-1-1 emergency phone service Friday, June 28, 2013. With the commissioners were county emergency employees with 20 years of service. Photo by Gene Walsh/Times Herald Staff.

EAGLEVILLE — Twenty years ago, a person in distress had to remember one of 88 different seven-digit numbers to get the police.

Montgomery County Commissioners Chairman Josh Shapiro and Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. helped celebrate the 20th anniversary of 9-1-1 service in Montgomery County during a special press conference Friday morning at the county emergency services center.

The Montgomery County officially launched its 9-1-1 emergency phone service on June 28, 1993, allowing residents to get the help they needed through one easily remembered number.

“This is class A, first-rate 9-1-1 center,” Shapiro said. “It’s a center that people can access by dialing one number. In the past, 20 years ago, they had to dial one of 88 different numbers in order to be connected to someone who could help them.”

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The Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Communications Complex in Eagleville has been recognized as being among the top 1 percent of its peers in certification and accreditation.

Before the county took over dispatching, dispatchers had no way of knowing where calls were coming from, said Jon Geib, deputy director of emergency communications for the department.

“When they did come in, it was near impossible to pinpoint where the call was coming from,” Geib said.

Under normal operations, shifts of 25 operators work 24/7 to get people help using a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to handle some 2,100 calls a day, on average, he said.

During Hurricane Sandy, the center received about 1,000 calls an hour.

“We, down at the county, are very proud of the fact that we almost never get a complaint from the public concerning the 9-1-1 center,” Castor said. “During Hurricane Sandy, the governor could have been any place — where he was inspecting the response of counties to the disaster — but he chose to come here, and spend a great deal of time here, and listen to our concerns and listen to the way we were handling those things. The governor was very complimentary of the work up here.”

The commissioners said the county has continually been enhancing 9-1-1 from the outset, identifying addresses where calls are coming from and detecting where cellphones are being used. Technology upgrades have allowed dispatchers to narrow the location of the 9-1-1 call to within 300 meters.

“Some call 9-1-1 when they’re experiencing trauma, something that is creating fear in their lives or concern or trepidation in their lives,” Shapiro said. “It matters who’s on the other end of that phone, and these people keep them calm, secure and ensure the safety and well-being of the people of Montgomery County.”